Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

As a child there was a little boy I know whose parent had HIV, he also contracted HIV and as a child he grew up having to watch his mother suffer for the illness. His grandmother ended up helping to raise him and his siblings because his mother could not do it on her own. His grandmother did the best she could to make sure he had a normal childhood. When the boy became a teenager his mother ended up passing away and I believe this a huge toll on him. Some years after that he ended up taking his own life; we are unaware if this was because he was tired of having to live with the illness.

In Africa AIDS continues to be an issue, since the discovery of AIDS 14.8 children has lost one or both of their parents because of AIDS. This issues can cause other problems for families when they loss the bread winner in the family they become faced with the issue of poverty.

While doing some research online I found two ways different countries in Africa are trying combat this issue. One way is with the use of condoms, the communities have access to free or a lost cost option to help protect themselves from AIDS. Another way has been through education and awareness. Countries have begun to take a proactive approach to testing people and trying to reduce the risk of mother passing it to their babies during birth.

http://www.avert.org/hiv-and-aids-africa.htm

Breastfeeding in the US vs other countries

When my son was born I struggled with the idea of breastfeeding, I knew that benefits of breastfeeding but in opinion today’s society does not welcome the idea of it. It seems as if it’s almost taboo to breastfeed your baby in public with people looking and or saying something negative about it. Babies want to eat when they get hungry and we can always time it so you’re in the privacy or your own home. Needless to say I ended up breastfeeding for the first month, and then we switched to formula. I will say this; if I ever have another baby I will not allow society’s views dictate my choice to breastfeed my baby.

As I conducted my research about breastfeeding I found so many articles about the benefits of breastfeeding. One country in particular intrigued me; a mother from the UK said they are allowed to stay out of work for 6 months so most women stop after 6 months if they have to return to work. Another mother from Mexico said women with low income or little education breastfeed because they don’t have the money to buy formula. She also said women with more money and education only breastfeed for a few months because they have the means to buy healthy food. This was a little confusing to me because all the articles I’ve read talked about good it is for the baby to have breast milk.

Overall my views are that we created to have the ability to breastfeed so if must be good for our children. This information might help impact my future work by helping me provide parents with information on the health benefits of breastfeeding as well as the a bonding experience for both mother and child.


* I found that the oldest "child" on record to be breastfeed was age 17! I don't think I could go that long*

Childbirth In My Life and Around the World

Thinking back on my personal birthing experience seems easy to now since 6 years has gone by. When it was taking place I thought it was the worse pain I’ve ever felt in my life. It started out with me being induced a few weeks early, my water was broken manual by the doctor and it seemed to go down hill from that point. I went in with the idea that I would go natural but that went out if the window after the 4th contraction. Soon after receiving my epidural I was told that I could start pushing. I pushed maybe a good 10 times and he was out. I thought the worse part was over but I ended up losing a lot of blood in the recovery room and ended up have to get a blood transfusion. Overall it was hard task but the end result was amazing.

I choose to research how births happen in Africa and I ended finding a very interesting story about a lady who gave birth in a birthing pool. She talked about how relaxing it was to be in the warm water in her own home. Her husband was able to be in the pool with her, but the most amazing part was she got to be home so no 3 day hospital stay required!

I think being able to be in a comfortable and familiar environment was helpful for mom the go through the birthing process and less stressful on the baby to born in its own home. It didn’t have to be welcomed into a sterile environment with harsh lighting and loud noises.